There was a time when I did not know you. I worked, ate, slept, laughed and lived like everyone else. I went through the motions of life. I did what was necessary and expected. I felt complete. I had all I wanted.

I did not know that I lacked you.

On the day we met, I became aware of you before I saw you.

I was on my way to work. Usually, I ignore people on the subway. Everyone does. Commuting in such close quarters requires it.

I felt a strong pull, magnetic, electric, and hot and cold at the same time. It made me turn, and the crowd opened up. There you were, oblivious of me, ignoring everyone—like a seasoned public transport commuter.

I know you felt the same pull in your soul because you stopped and looked up. Surprise was showing on your face, and you looked directly at me.

For a few heartbeats, the world flowed around us without moving between us. You smiled. My heart stopped. When it started again, it was not beating; it was roaring.

A subtle shift in the commuters around us filled the space between us. I could no longer see you, but I felt you. I knew where you were. I moved towards you, and you must have done the same because the drawing became a tug I could feel.

An obese woman waddled out of the way and there you were.

Everything I did not know I needed. All that was absent from my life. The final ingredient that makes the meal a feast. The empty parts of my being resonated at the sight of you, knowing we fit uniquely!

We said nothing. Both of us extended our hands. You took custody of my soul when you took my hands in yours. The world stopped, then faded into the background.

‘Finally! ‘I thought.

‘Yes, finally,’ you said.

I felt something move from me to you, eagerly exchanged by you with something I received in return. It’s familiar. It felt like home. It smelled like fresh bread. It softly but firmly enveloped me like my mother’s arms when I was a small child, scared of the dark.

There was a perfect meshing of your essence and my empty parts. The same happened to you. Your eyes gave it away. The brightness of your irises increased, just to be eclipsed by enlarged pupils.

The same thing happened to me. Everything around me snapped into focus. I heard all, saw all, felt all. You, most of all, filled my senses.

I knew you. I have always known you. You had all the parts I lacked to be a whole person. Your essence cradled my soul, opened my mind and filled me with love.

You knew me. You have always known me. In exchange for completeness, my being surrendered itself to you.

My mind shifted. All my concerns about myself, my life, my stuff, and my future evaporated. It was immediately replaced with the most potent sense of purpose.

A new beautiful purpose.

A purpose we both shared before, in many past lives, and in other dimensions, times, bodies, and places.

The same exact purpose: ‘To love you and only you’.